IT HAS been a memorable year for some of East Lancashire’s sportsmen and women and here we take a look at our five stars of 2015 who have had a 12 months to remember:
ALEX DAVIES
It was a breakthrough year for Darwen’s Alex Davies, who took advantage of Jos Buttler spending almost all of the year on international duty to cement his place in Lancashire’s side.
The 21-year-old went into the season with 14 First-class matches under his belt and 527 runs.
But in 2015 he made 14 more County Championship appearances for Lancashire, scoring 730 runs and averaging over 40 with the bat, while also performing well behind the stumps.
Against Kent, he finished one run short of a maiden first-class century and in total he passed 50 on seven occasions.
And Davies also had a memorable T20 finals days, scoring 47 from 26 balls in the final as Lancashire finally got their hands on the trophy at Edgbaston, and earning the Man of the Match award in the final.
JOSH WINDASS
There might be plenty of speculation about Accrington Stanley’s stylish attacking midfielder leaving the club in January, but he has played a crucial role for the Reds in 2015.
Before the start of this year, Windass had played 28 competitive matches for the club without scoring a goal since joining from Huddersfield in July 2013.
But after scoring the winning goal in a 1-0 victory over Burton at the Crowd Ground on February 24 he has not looked back.
In 2015 he has scored 17 goals in 47 games and his form and goals, with 11 coming in 24 games this season, has been instrumental in John Coleman’s side mounting a promotion push in Sky Bet League Two this term.
Playing behind the striker, Windass has contributed plenty of goals from midfield for the Reds and he has played his part in Coleman’s free-flowing side soaring high in the table.
LAURA MASSARO
Chorley’s Massaro will end 2015 at the top of the world as she awaits the new world rankings to be published on January 1.
New Year’s Day will confirm her ascent to world number one for the first time in her career, an ambition she has been chasing since turning professional in 2002.
Massaro reached the last four of the Tournament of Champions and the Cleveland Classic at the start of the year, but was beaten in the final of the national championships in February and then lost the final of the British Open in May.
However, the start of the 2015/16 season has been stunning from Massaro. She won the Macau Open in September, the US Open in October and the Qatar Classic in November, before finishing runner-up in the Hong Kong Open this month.
With the world championships in Kuala Lumpur cancelled due to security concerns, Massaro will wake up on the first day of 2016 as the best player in the world.
SOPHIE HITCHON
Burnley hammer thrower Hitchon may have no precious metal to show for her 2015 efforts, but it was still a superb year for the Blackburn Harrier.
The 24-year-old qualified in eighth for the world championship final in Beijing back in August, but she turned on the style in the Birds Nest stadium in the final.
Having finished 12th in the Olympics final three years ago, Hitchon improved to finish fourth in the world final this summer, missing out on a medal by just 16cms.
Hitchon began the final by breaking the British record with a throw of 73.65m and later in the event she improved that mark even further to 73.86m.
LUKE BLACKLEDGE
If Hitchon ended the year without any metal, it was a different story for Clitheroe boxer Blackledge.
The 25-year-old had spent 2014 rebuilding his career after ending the previous year with a defeat to Rocky Fielding.
But 2015 dawned with a King George’s Hall fight against the highly-rated Liam Cameron for the vacant Commonwealth super middleweight title.
And Blackledge, under the tutelage of Bolton-based trainer Alex Matvienko, turned in a fine display to win the verdict from all three judges, 117-112, 116-113 and 115-114.
Blackledge’s first defence of his belt came on October 10 against Lee Markham at the Manchester Arena and it was another fine performance to score another unanimous decision.
Blackledge is now targeting possible European and world title fights in 2016.
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